The Bonus Points

This week we spread managed democracy as rookie shock troopers in Helldivers II! This game was our Community voted Game of the Year for 2024 so we figured we should probably find out what that mucky lot have been up to, and get familiar with Super Earth. Helldivers II is a cooperative third person shooter that took the gaming world by storm last year, selling 12 million copies in 3 months.

1000xResist is a narrative adventure game set in a future where humanity has been wiped out and replaced with a small society of clones, these clones are all strands of a single teenage girl but over 100s of years built their own religious beliefs, systems and governments, while under the constant threat of a larger entity.

In Alpha Protocol, players take on the role of Micheal Thorton, a weird geezer who can't have a regular conversation. Or aim his gun straight. Or move quietly. Or do anything his job requires of him with any degree of consistency or success... Come on this globe trotting mis-adventure with us in a classic "we played it so you don't have to" episode!

In Alpha Protocol, players take on the role of Micheal Thorton, a weird geezer who can't have a regular conversation. Or aim his gun straight. Or move quietly. Or do anything his job requires of him with any degree of consistency or success... Come on this globe trotting mis-adventure with us in a classic "we played it so you don't have to" episode!

We have recently crossed paths with Andy Robertson, a games journalist writing for Forbes, the BBC and previously the Guardian and Wired. Andy is on his way to creating a new app called Ludocene, which has its foundations built on the Family Gaming Database. Ludocene is a video game discoverability app that hopes to cut through the thousands of games made available each day using human tags and recommendations, not with AI.

This week we are talking about Dragon Quest Heroes Rocket Slime on the Nintendo DS. This game has charm, fun and great ideas in buckets and was a great first DS game for the show. A very different vibe to the previous couple of episodes for sure!

F.E.A.R. is a 2005 first person shooter from the unfortunately recently shuttered studio Monolith Productions. The game blends horror and fps gameplay to create a 'playable action movie'. A lot of attention was paid to the AI in game using a system known as GOAP, Goal Oriented Action Planning, and this system is still used today. With dynamic lighting and real-time physics, the game was no slouch in its presentation either.

Natsu-mon is a vacation simulator that puts you in the shoes of 10 year old Satoru, as he ventures to the countryside as part of a travelling circus with his family. From your basecamp at the holiday home, Satoru goes out each day and finds something new to do, gamifying things a kid might do in August, 1999. A very sweet idea with a fantastic art style too!

After surviving a plane crash during an escape from a zombie ridden LA (known as Hell-A) you are left to fend for yourself alone, or with 2 friends in co-op. The journey takes you through famous LA locations and you team up with lots of characters who are there for a good time, not a long time. This game surprised us with its witty writing and up-beat attitude, as well as being a technical showcase. Good stuff!

Batman: Arkham Asylum is a 2009 action adventure game where you play as the Dark Knight on what the developers describe as "the worst night of his life". Trapped on an island with literally all the villains, Batman must survive the night as well as putting a stop to Jokers evil scheme to poison Gotham. Between kicking and punching, climbing, gadget-ing and detectiving, it's safe to say Bats is a busy boy.

The lads take a trip to hell with the Doom Slayer himself ‪@revios219‬ . Harry is a bit of an FPS aficionado and a modern Doom super fan so who could be better to shepherd us through the gates of hell? Doom The Dark Ages is a 2025 first person shooter in the long running Doom franchise (and the second Doom game on the show), developed by id software and Bethesda.

This week the lads take a deep dive in to Joe's hobby, Pinball! We focus on real pinball but also touch on virtual pinball, covering how to play, how they are built, what the industry and the community is like and more. Then we deep dive in to Medieval Madness as the focus for the episode and the list addition.

The boys don their backpacks once again to walk the walk with Death Stranding 2. Death Stranding 2: On the beach sees brooding blue-collar worker Sam Porter Bridges deliver packages to stop the extinction of humanity (again). Although this time, he has a serious chip on his shoulder... and a ladder, a pair of boots, a silenced assault rifle, a bridge, 10 grenades, 5 health packs, 400 units of metal, a pizza, some vials etc etc.

This time the boys jump in to the world of Alba: A Wildlife Adventure with Andy Robertson. Alba is a 'chillectathon' on a fictional Spanish island where you are tasked with cataloging the local wildlife as well as fixing up the nature reserve, and other attractions, to their former glory. The game started life on iOS and was developed in the UK, but has since been ported to pretty much every single modern platform.

The lads venture in to the Gungeon with community hero Neil Watts (aka Muppet). Neil is our discord moderator, the gatekeeper of our website but most of all a dear friend and a sweet soul. Enter the Gungeon is a topdown roguelike where everything is based around guns. Guns and puns. Imagine the structure of pretty much any roguelike, then PERFECT IT, and you'd be well on your way to envisioning what the Gungeon has to offer. Also its hard as hell.